So much awesome cluelessness in the replies on that post. "It's definitely safe to use your real name," says WHAMM (White Heterosexual Able-bodied Middle-class Male) #1 confidently. "Nobody ever suffers from real-world social and legal consequences as a result of what they do online. No gay teenager from a small town has ever been bashed to death by homophobes after he got outed for his online activities. No woman on the run from an abusive husband ever got tracked down and 'punished' as a result of profile details on the internet. No activist fighting an oppressive regime ever got 'disappeared' after the authorities tracked them down using a web forum profile. It's all perfectly safe. Don't inconvenience us!"